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Gundain
Gundain is by far the largest empire on the continent of Balderdash, not to mention the only empire. Its population consists of well over one million individuals, and as such it is increidbly diverse in population. Every single one of the races, as well as the secondary races (i.e. Vulpoi, Bollytoads, etc.) can be found in the Gundain Empire. Despite boasts of diverse culture, however, Humans are still the most common members of Gundain society. The Reason Gundain is considered an empire is due to its absorption of some Orcish and Gnomish lands. The lands of the Orcs were simply assimilated peacefully, and relations with the Orcs were not hrut from these interactions. The Gnomish lands, however, were taken through political conquest and sabotage during the time of Tross the Slayer. History Gundain began as a simple colony not long after the Kingdom of Wutnaut had been established. The original members of the land deemed Gundain melded well with the Orcish civilizations to the west and befriended them. Humans and Orcs have always been known to prosper together. Gundain quickly became a mesh of both societies as it grew. The colony eventually declared independance from Solus; these actions brought a tension between Gundain and its home continent. The Orcs of both Solus and Balderdash sided with the colony of Gundain, stating that independance is a good thing for everyone in typical Orcish fashion. The central Government of Solus at the time was unwilling to take action against Gundain, as these events took place far before the fall of the Demon Lord Vulcan, and risking a broken alliance with the Orcs would likely lead to the end of Humanity. So Gundain flowered under its own rule and became a theocracy run by a special group of the Paladins known as the Templars. In these days Gunain was ruled by a council of Templars, with the head seat being chosen by the Star Throne, a holy relic of Mother Vivé. When one worthy of leading the Templars would sit upon the throne it would shine brilliantly. After the Demon Lord Vulcan was defeated, the throne stopped working altogether. This struck a massive blow to the Templars, as without leadership they could no longer function properly. This was later coupled with the rise of Tross the Slayer, and further the fall of Gustav Vanderjung. This created a perfect storm for the rise of wizards and sorcerers, playing upon the immense power of the freshly slain Water Spirit. For a time, Gundain was lawless. The Mage's Guild of Gundain as well as the College of Gundain fought bitterly for territory and districts. Elven slaves were in high demand in the country for their knowledge of ancient magics during these days. Gangs of independant mages cropped up all over Gundain attempting fruitlessly to share the stage with the two main heavy hitters duking it out for control. This is when Gundain was first seen as an empire, despite the fact that a few cities destroyed in the wake of Tross the Slayer were claimed as territory much earlier in its history, now that these independant organizations were expanding Gundain's boarders and exploiting nearby towns and villages for power the former theocratic country became known as an empire. Gundain would later keep these territories once the dust settled, and both factions saw that neither could gain control of the country without destroying it in the process. The two settled for a magocratic diarchy, with two rulers, the Archmage of the Mage's Guild, and the Headmaster of the College. The two ultimately work together to appoint members from both factions to various positions of power and influence throughout the empire. All districts within Gundain have an appointed mage that dictates their laws and courts. These mages are referred to as Overseers, whereas the judges they appoint are referred to as Legislative Sages. These are only a few of the responsibilities of the diarchy in Gundain's modern magocracy. Geography Gundain's top level is purely cities and occasional stints of grass and forest in the roads between them. Gundain's topmost level is purely crowded city structures, which all lie atop the massive underground farming systems and manufactories than both feed and preserve Gundain's way of life. Farms are worked mostly by lowerclass citizens and those who owe debt to the underground landowners. It is not necessarily seen as a bad way of living, thought the aristocracy has a way of looking down upon the workers. A farmer's job basically involves anything from replacing burnt out sun-stones hanging in the gardens, to reaping harvests and planting crops. There's also, of course, lots of upkeep to be had with livestock. Farmers' lives are only made difficult by the conditions of living underground, as all true acts of farming are heavily magically assisted as subsidized by the government. Seeing as the only obstacle is getting over living underground, there are some Dwarves in Gundain that have taken quickly and willingly to this life. The motto of the farmers is "When you work with your hands, you'll never be rich, but you'll never go hungry." The manufactories of the Gundain underground are worked solely by prisoners, with wardens stationed at every facility as well as guards to keep them in line. In these manufactories the inmates are taught to repeatedly cast incredibly simplistic spells, and are paid meager wages based on how productive they are. These wages can be spent on anything from better food to a better cell. The items typically manufactured are simple pleasantries of everyday life in Gundain such as enchanted coasters that cool drinks, and hovering streetlamps designed to come on at a certain time of day. Criminals known for their magical prowess are usually not allowed factory work of any kind, but sometimes under large amounts of supervision they are given opportunities to attend to some of the cities more magically intensive needs (i.e. conjuring guard golems for patrolling city streets and keeping the peace) Politics The current factions in power in Gundain are the Mage's Guild of Gundain and the College of Gundain, together as a diarchy. Both sides are hungry for power though both are thoroughly stalemated, and they've as many metaphorical knives pointed at mutual enemies as they do pointed at each others' backs. The most persistent threat to the two would be the remnants of the Templars, still vying for power even in their hobbled state years later. The Templars have taken themselves down a questionable path that many other Paladins find themselves in disagreement with. The Templars have begun to use subterfuge and political games to begin a rise to power in Gundain once more, forsaking many holy doctrines as they have adopted an "end justifies the means" attitude. It is reported that Templars have even forsaken their classical weapons of choice, long swords, maces, and such. They now have taken it upon themselves to become proficient with technologically advanced weapons from the Gnomes (An easily foreseen strategy, seeing as ever since the magocracy rose within Gundain the Gnomes of Balderdash have been losing land and population. This made trade between the Gnomes and Templars blossom beautifully). The Templars now use such weapons as the Arquebus, Handgunne, and Musket, blessing and inscribing their bullets with holy powers. Another rising faction within Gundain is the Banker's Union of Gundain in their plight against the plutocratic undertones often seen among the Overseers and Legislative Sages that can be prone to taking bribes and quick to overlook crimes committed by the aristocracy. Furthermore there are some rather off-beat factions mixed into the entire affair such as the Cult of the All-Seeing Puff which has gained some popularity over the years despite its outrageous agenda of dumping the minds of every citizen of Gundain into a perfect 'think-tank' (inside of a soot puff), and having a perfect uniocratic society. Economy Gundain's economy thrives from its diversity and inventiveness. The coutnry is littered with markets, and is known as the "go-to" country if one is on the prowl for magic items. Felisians have quite an interesting presence in the heart of the magical item trade in Gundain. In no other country does this race find itself more embedded than in Gundain. They have found that strange and wondrous items are basically half of what tourists come to Gundain to see, and as such Felisians have found they no longer have to travel alongside Vulpoi to sell wears from their wondrous and odd homelands. Some Felisians, of course, still prefer the nomadic life, but others find the idea of settling down in a permanent home with a nice big ball of yarn to be quite a relaxing and tempting prospect to toy with. The prospect of Felisian wares has done nothing but bolster the already booming business for magic items in Gundain. Bollytoads have even begun to forsake some Gnomish lands to deal out their mysterious wares in the markets of Gundain. In the land where the Water Spirit fell, magic is king. Transportation Gundain has a government subsidized teleportation circuit that runs through every district. The teleportation services are free to use but can take up to hours of waiting in line for transport to popular locations (teleportations are only done one at a time due to government issue safety codes to avoid mixmemberment between those travelling). For this reason alone private teleportation organizations still blossom, and sometimes charge rather exorbitant fees despite the existence of free government teleportation. There are, of course, other less popular forms of travel such as the sewer rafting system, and the rentable donkeys some districts still boast. Language The most well-accepted language in Gundain is Common, but districts underground with high Dwarvish population, and other niche districts as well as Vulpoian communities in Gundain will typically speak Common as only a secondary language (Vulpoian communities in Gundain mostly use Felisian scripts for their signs), and one would be a fool to think they're find many signs that were decently translated in those parts.